Ag department providing space for DEQ lab

BATON ROUGE -- The Department of Environmental Quality says it will save more than $45,000 a year by moving air analysis to a vacant laboratory in the Department of Agriculture and Forestry.

File photoAgriculture Commissioner Mike Strain

Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain and DEQ Secretary Peggy Hatch said Thursday that they plan to expand the partnership, sharing information as well as space.

"We believe this is the first step in a working relationship that will lead to efficiency measures for both agencies statewide," Hatch said.

The five workers had been using a lab that DEQ closed to save money, department spokesman Rodney Mallett said. He said renting 2,257 square feet from LDAF will save DEQ $45,700 a year.

"We're facing limited budgets and this was one of the ways we thought would best benefit the taxpayer," Strain said.

The agriculture department lab checked for brucellosis, a highly contagious disease that can make cows abort their calves. The department closed the lab last March because the bacteria had not been found in Louisiana since 1999, when the state was certified brucellosis-free, department spokesman Sam Irwin said.

The air analysis uses compressed gas and other materials, requiring space for delivery and storage of the cylinders, a news release said. It said the workers also sometimes need to bring the cylinders inside, which couldn't be done safely at the old lab.